Financial Technology and Financial Inclusion of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kabati Market Kitui County, Kenya.

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dc.contributor.advisorSalome M. Musauen_US
dc.contributor.authorMuthengi, Agelyne Kanini
dc.date.accessioned2022-04-12T10:58:33Z
dc.date.available2022-04-12T10:58:33Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.descriptionA Research Project Submitted to the School of Business in Partial Fulfillment for the Requirement for the Award of the Degree of Master of Business Administration Degree (Finance Option) Kenyatta University, March, 2022en_US
dc.description.abstractSMEs plays a vital role which are growth drivers in the development roadmap, as they aid in transforming the country to become a middle-income developed state by 2030 by achieving blue print goals which are pillars of vision 2030. Due to the effective deployment of financial technology and financial institution services, individuals and other organizations now have more financial access. Despite this progress, access to useful affordable financial products and services that meet daily needs when it comes to making transactions, payments and credit access by Kenyan small and medium-sized businesses continues to be a major problem. This research therefore intended to find out how financial technology and financial inclusion affect SMEs in Kenya's Kabati market. Specifically, this study sought to establish Agency banking services effect, find out the Mobile money services effect, establish online banking effect and investigate mobile loan apps lenders effect on SMEs' financial inclusion. Pecking Order Theory, Asymmetric Information Theory, Technology Acceptance Model, Relationship Lending Theory, and Financial Intermediation Theory all serve as foundations for the study. Descriptive cross-sectional approach was adopted for use in this study whereby stratified random sampling method was applied with sample size of 223 enterprises on all merchants and wholesalers SMEs in the Kabati market which had a total population of 502 SMEs. Questionnaires were used in the study to collect primary data. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics as well as inferential statistics. Summary statistics included means, standard deviations, percentages and frequencies. Inferential statistics included correlation and multiple linear regression analyses. Tables, figures, pie charts and graph were used to present data of the research findings. The study concluded that Financial technology have significant effect on financial inclusion. Most SME holders of the county are now able to access financial services, from access to credit to financial planning tools, with the help of online banking and mobile money platforms thus driving business growth and further enhancing financial inclusion. The study also concludes that costs involved in accessing the financial technology services and products discourage most SMEs since they feel it consuming most of their profits. The study recommended that the government to contribute in promotion and support of FinTech strategies such as Agency banking, M-pesa services, online banking and Money Lending Apps, since they facilitate the provision of financial services faster and in a more convenient and efficient manner in areas that are underserved by financial institutions. In order to increase the adoption of FinTech among SMEs the government can help in coming up with legislation to regulate the operations of FinTechs with regards to transaction costs and user data privacy since they are increasingly being adopted by many businesses. This will prevent exploitation of SMEs by the FinTech products helping them to stay in business and continue to grow which further promotes financial inclusion for all. The study also recommended that government to provide licenses at low fee as for FinTechs to have more products and services at an affordable fee targeting SMEs since this group does not necessarily always have access to financial products provided by conventional institutions and this will lead to greater financial inclusion to SMEs as well as increased loyalty and profit for the FinTech companies. The study also recommended that future studies focus on the effects of adoption of financial technology service delivery methods by SMEs across the country.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipKenyatta Universityen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/23589
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherKenyatta Universityen_US
dc.subjectFinancial Technologyen_US
dc.subjectFinancial Inclusionen_US
dc.subjectSmall and Medium Enterprisesen_US
dc.subjectKabati Marketen_US
dc.subjectKitui Countyen_US
dc.subjectKenyaen_US
dc.titleFinancial Technology and Financial Inclusion of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kabati Market Kitui County, Kenya.en_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
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